


Be Here Now

by bearonthecouch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Making Up, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 21:37:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12241089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearonthecouch/pseuds/bearonthecouch
Summary: Tony and Pepper have been on a break for a long time. But coming back together is surprisingly simple.





	Be Here Now

“You came back,” Tony says simply. The words are quickly swallowed by the awkward silence. Pepper stands there, a few paces away, silhouetted by the sunlight pouring in through the Stark office's floor-to-ceiling windows. She shrugs, smiling shyly, and Tony wants nothing more than to run to her. But all he does is clear his throat. “Come in,” he insists, waving her closer. She does, taking one step forward, and then another, until she's close enough to touch. Tony holds his breath for a long moment, waiting, wondering. Then Pepper takes one more step, and she is in his arms.

“I've missed you,” Tony admits, as he holds her close to his chest. He has wanted this so badly, for so long.

Pepper doesn't quite look at him, but she mumbles, “I've missed you too, Tony.”

It's almost as though that admission gives Tony permission to speak. He starts babbling and can't stop. “I know I've been an asshole and an idiot, I'm sorry I never stopped calling you, I'm sorry about- about everything, Pepper, I-”

But she is already shaking her head. She puts her hand flat on his chest, above the heart. And she looks up at him with a perfect blend of sadness and hope in her eyes. “It doesn't matter,” she tells him. “None of that matters. It's all in the past.” She says it with firm determination. She can't let anything that happened before matter now, or it will crumble all her resolve.

“Why did you come back?” Tony says. He asks like he can't quite believe she's here, standing right in front of him. Perhaps because he's dreamed this moment so many times.

Pepper stands there staring at him for a long moment, and he can almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she tries to form her answer. He holds his breath, waiting for the words to come. What she says, finally, is “You needed me.”

He nods. It's true. He did. He does. He tried to tell her that, but it always felt like she didn't hear him.

He laces his fingers through hers as she looks around the spacious Stark Industries lobby. He wonders if it looks familiar or alien to her, if she's glad to be back. Their “break” had stretched on and on, weeks into months into years, until Tony had almost given up hope. He had built up walls around himself to make up for her not being there. Those walls still exist, he is still too wary to let them down completely.

He is not the only one who's changed. But Pepper looks like she's changed for the better in the time they've been apart; she seems more confident, more assertive. She seems like the kind of woman who wouldn't return his calls, and Tony finds that he cannot even blame her for that. She probably was better off without his broken desperation dragging her down. He crosses his arms over his chest, and stares out the door as if expecting her to turn back around and walk away through it.

But Pepper doesn't walk away. Instead, she reaches out to touch him again, she rests her hand on his arm. “Tony, listen to me,” she says, with such quiet force that he cannot help but obey. “I'm not going to leave you. Never again.”

He isn't quite sure he can believe her. None of this seems real enough, not yet. But he nods anyway. He wants to believe it. He'll try. He'll do everything he can to make sure he doesn't push her away again.

“Come on,” he says, and Pepper's hand slides down from his arm to take his hand. He leads her further into the building, away from the public lobby and toward the security of his own private offices. Pepper takes the change of venue in stride. Tony waves at a lounge chair and Pepper sits, perched on the edge of it, not quite comfortable. “Can I get you something to drink?”

She shakes her head. “What are you doing, Tony?” He starts to ask what she means, but she just holds up a hand, forestalling the question. “Don't do that,” she demands. “Don't pretend like I'm one of those bimbos you invite over for drinks and a peek at all of Stark Industries' expensive tech. I'm not so easily impressed.”

Tony sighs, heavily. He watches her, searching for her reaction. She keeps her face stubbornly passive, refusing to give in to him. She doesn't even smile. “I know that, Pepper,” Tony murmurs. But if he can't disarm her with friendly words and alcohol, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do. He keeps a smile on his face, trying to mask how uncomfortable he feels, but the truth is that they have been apart for so long that he isn't at all sure what she's looking for now, coming back. How is he supposed to pretend that nothing has changed between them?

He sets down the bottles of liquor, the glasses, and he keeps his eyes on Pepper. When did she become so very hard to read? “What do you want me to do?” he asks carefully.

She looks up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time since he brought her up here. “Just be here, Tony,” she says simply. He opens his mouth to protest, to say that he is, in fact, here, but the look on her face is enough to tell him to keep his mouth shut. “Be here,” she repeats. “Not just when you feel like it, but all the time.”

“Okay,” he agrees immediately. He'll do whatever she asks of him. He can't imagine losing her again, not when he has the chance to keep her here.

Pepper raises an eyebrow. She doesn't quite believe him. Tony isn't entirely certain she should.

Pepper settles back in her chair, getting a little bit more comfortable, inch by inch. Tony's the one who can't stop twitching. It's taking everything in him not to be pacing around the room. Before he realizes what he's doing, he's got a drink in his hand. He doesn't remember pouring it. He takes a slow, calming sip. Pepper says nothing.

He takes another, and then Pepper is standing up, walking over to him, taking the drink from his hand. She sets it down on the bar and rests her hand on his cheek, drawing his eyes down to meet hers. Tony realizes that his chest is tight, that it hurts for him to breathe. Pepper stands up on tiptoe and kisses him, slowly, deeply. The ache inside of him slowly begins to ease.

“Thank you,” he says, sounding like an idiot and not even caring. Pepper kisses him again. When she breaks away, she takes his hand and leads him away from the bar and toward the little hallway that leads to a makeshift bedroom he'd installed in here for those nights when he couldn't be bothered to go home.

He hasn't been in this room in months, he'd almost forgotten it was here. He isn't surprised that Pepper remembered. Pepper remembers everything.

She sits down on the edge of the bed and begins pulling off her boots. She looks up at Tony, and now she does smile, bright and inviting. He smiles too, though he looks a little uncertain. Is she really asking for sex? Now? As if nothing has happened between them.

She raises a questioning eyebrow as Tony stands there frozen. Like an idiot. Her smile falters as she looks at him. Tony finds himself hurrying forward, onto the bed. Pepper reaches out to pull at his shirt, and Tony helps her, drawing it over his head. The air-conditioning is turned up high enough that goosebumps dimple his bare arms and chest. Pepper squirms out of her leggings, and kneels next to him.

The bed really isn't big enough for both of them, but that had never stopped them before. Tony shifts a little bit, intending to make a little more space for Pepper, but she grabs his arm and pulls him back toward her. He stays there, practically on top of her, and then he leans down to kiss her. But Pepper squirms impatiently, and reaches out for Tony's pants. She starts to pull them down, until he's left in just his boxers, and then Pepper's climbing on top of him, straddling him, and moaning desperately in his ear. Tony finds this encouraging, especially when she reaches down between his legs and starts stroking. She guides him toward her, and Tony is all too happy to do everything she wants. He slides into her, and it feels exactly the same as he remembers. It takes no time at all to find their rhythm, because it is still familiar to both of them. They are pinned together in heat and sweat and desire, and it wipes everything else clean.

After they finish, Tony rolls onto his back on the too-small bed, breathing heavily. Pepper rests against his chest, and he holds her close. As if nothing has changed between them.


End file.
